At about midnight, the Magic made their second and final pick, No. 59, selecting F Stanley Robinson of UConn.

The Magic landed the final first-round Wildcat from the University of Kentucky NBA expansion team, Orton following teammates John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson and Eric Bledsoe into the league.

Orton's a 6-foot-10, 255-pound project, although the Magic figure to get more from him than they did from Adonal Foyle. That's when — or if — Orton reaches the floor.

He averaged 3.4 points and 13.4 minutes last season as a freshman with Kentucky, which would be just about his workload scraping for time behind Howard.

Magic General Manager Otis Smith said the club had Orton on its "radar" and would have traded out of the first round had he not been available. Apparently, the phone lines were lit up like a telethon.

"We talked about a lot of things all the way up to the pick," Smith said.

Their outpouring of love was news to Orton, who never worked out for Orlando and said he was shocked that the Magic selected him.

"I can't lie," Orton said. "It's a total shock to me."

Orton could well be the back-up center who might replace the current back-up center, Marcin Gortat.

Gortat, making around $34 million for cameo appearances, could be part of any blockbuster deal. The Magic have been linked to Chris Paul and Luol Deng in various trade rumors, although General Manager Otis Smith again squashed any Paul dream scenario.

But it's clear that the Magic are fishing, offering up anyone not named Howard and sparing no feelings in quest of a championship.

"We have our pole out there," team President Bob Vander Weide said.

You know the Magic are serious when word from point guard Jameer Nelson's camp is that not even Nelson — Howard's buddy — is safe.

And really, it might take another hefty deal this summer to make the Magic better than the Los Angeles Lakers or whatever team LeBron James graces with his presence.

The Magic still need more size to contend with the Lakers, although it doesn't sound as if Orton can shed pounds and his training wheels this season. "I don't need to put him in a game tomorrow," Smith said.

Smith believes that Orton "would have been a lottery pick" if he had stayed in school another year. If you are going to error, error with a potentially potent big man, even if he must be Howard's valet for a year or three. They are always, ahem, a good trade asset.

Smith took the best player available instead of making a "reach pick," The Magic still need a young point guard — a need they likely now will address in free agency this summer.

Oddly, the win-now Magic addressed the future more with the Orton pick. Now everyone wants to see what they'll do in the present tense as a contender.